The invention concerns a lighting control system and lighting control method for implementing and controlling external running lights of an automotive vehicle.
Traditionally, external running lights are controlled by rotary switches or by stalk switches. These switches are mechanical systems which can have a plurality of physical positions corresponding each to a lighting status of the external running lights.
Typically, in the case of a rotary switch or of a stalk switch, a first position of the switch denotes an OFF position of the lights; a second position of the switch denotes position lights ON and a third position denotes low/full beams ON.
Modern vehicles can be further equipped with a light sensor that can detect the intensity of daylight. Based on the information detected by the sensor a vehicle controller can turn on the vehicle lights to position lights or low beam, this occurring without any input from the driver.
It is also known, from WO 2010/076589, a lighting control system that has a manually operable member that can freely rotate around a central axis in order to allow the user to increment or decrement lighting configurations.
Such a lighting control system is more user friendly than the traditional systems and the fact that the control member can freely rotate and has no predefined position in relation to a lighting configuration makes it possible to disconnect the actual position of the control member and the actual lighting configuration. Thus in WO 2010/076589, the lighting configuration is not bound by the actual position of the control member. Such a lighting control system allows the driver to not be confused when for example the controller automatically turn on the vehicle lights to low beam.
Nevertheless in lighting systems of prior art and under some circumstances, the manual selection of lighting configurations doesn't result in an intuitive selection for the driver. In addition, such lighting control systems could lead to an improper and uncomfortable selection for the driver.
For instance, in case of foul weather such as heavy rain, fog, mist, snow . . . , the switching on of high beams is useless and in some circumstances may be dangerous because they could limit depth of driver's view field. Even if weather is for instance foggy the selection of high beams always remains possible for the driver that can implement by mistake such a lighting configuration.
In another example and when the driver is driving at night, the lighting system of the prior art gives to the driver the possibility to switch off all the lights. Without further explanation, it is easily understood that such a mistaken selection is very dangerous.
Consequently, it appears that prior lighting control systems lack of accuracy to allow the driver to switch on easily the appropriate external running lights.
Therefore, there is room for improvement in lighting control systems and lighting control methods for automotive vehicles.
In this technical context, it is desirable to improve the control of lighting equipment of an automotive vehicle especially by providing a lighting control system and a lighting control method of greater adaptability and accuracy, that limit the risk of mistaken selections and that result in more intuitive control for the driver.
To this end, an aspect of the invention concerns a lighting control system for an automotive vehicle having external running lights implementable in different available lighting configurations. Wherein the control system comprises in combination:                a controller to control and implement lighting configurations,        an input device that can be manually actuated,        at least one sensor connected to the controller, that is able to detect at least one environment parameter and to transmit to the controller data corresponding to said parameter,        a memory connected to the controller wherein different lighting configurations are stored.        
The controller is configured to automatically select, depending on said environment parameter and among the different available lighting configurations, which lighting configurations can be implemented. The controller is also configured to automatically determine, depending on said parameter, in which order the selected lighting configurations are implemented when the input device is manually actuated.
The input device can be a manually operable control member movable in at least one direction, a touchpad or a control member partially or totally covered with a touch sensitive surface. A control member covered with a touch sensitive surface can be a motionless control member.
In the present application the touchpad or the touch sensitive surface is considered as being manually actuated or as receiving a manual actuation when it is contacted for instance by a finger of the driver or when a finger slides on it. The manually operable control member is considered as being manually actuated when it is operated and moved for instance by the finger or the hand of the driver.
Thanks to the lighting control system according to the invention, it is possible to configure the system in such a manner that the driver can only choose lighting configurations that are considered as useful depending on the value or the state of at least one environment parameter. Thanks to that it is avoided that the driver chooses improper lighting configurations. To make the selection more intuitive and more logical for the driver when he manually actuates the input device, the controller adapts, depending on the value or state of at least one environment parameter, the order in which the lighting configurations will be implemented (hereinafter the “implementation order”). For instance the implementation order of the lighting configurations can be modified depending on current weather or daylight conditions or depending on the state of the vehicle that can be determined by the activation or not of a vehicle sub-system or vehicle function such as the activation or not of the park brake. The detection of the park brake activation can be used by the lighting control system to determine for instance a prolonged stop of the vehicle.
According to advantageous but optional features considered on their own or in any technically feasible combination:                the different available lighting configurations are stored in the memory according to at least two different lists, each list defining some selected lighting configurations and an implementation order of the selected lighting configurations when the control member is manually operated or when the touchpad or the touch sensitive surface receives a manual actuation;        the controller is configured to automatically select, depending on at least one environment parameter, which list has to be implemented;        the selected lighting configurations and/or the implementation orders are different from one list to another;        the selected lighting configurations are stored in the memory, each selected lighting configuration being associated with a rank and, when the controller detects a motion of the manually operable control member in one direction or when it detects a finger motion on the touchpad or on the touch sensitive surface of the controller in one direction, it is configured to increment the active lighting configuration rank by at least one rank to define a new active lighting configuration rank and to control the implementation of at least one new lighting configuration that corresponds to the new active lighting configuration rank;        the control member is movable bidirectionally and a motion of the control member in one direction allows the incrementation of the lighting configuration rank and the motion of the control member in the opposite direction allows the decrementation of the lighting configuration rank;        the control member is movable in rotation about at least one axis;        the control member is a control member of the incremental type.        
In the present application, the expression “incremental type” means that a new lighting configuration is implemented thanks to a motion of the control member and is not determined by the current position of the control member. After each manual actuation, the control member of the incremental type automatically returns to a neutral or to a rest position.
According to another advantageous but optional feature considered on its own or in any technically feasible combination with other features:                the control member is a freely rotating control member able to rotate bidirectionally about at least one axis.        
The adverb “freely” means that the angular position of the control member doesn't assign a lighting configuration as defined here before. That also means that the control member has no angular end position and may be operated on several complete rotations around the rotation axis.
The fact that the control member can freely rotate and therefore as no predefined position in relation to the lighting configuration makes it possible to disconnect the actual position of the control member from the current lighting configuration. Thus the lighting configuration is not bound by the current position of the control member, unlike conventional switch wherein the position of the switch denotes the vehicle lighting configuration. For this type of control member there is no need to use reference numbers or any other indicator to mark the angular position of the control member. Thanks to this control member, lighting configuration can be automatically modified by the lighting control system without confusing the driver by indicating contradictory information.
According to other advantageous but optional features considered on their own or in any technically feasible combination:                the sensor is chosen among the followings:        light or sun sensor,        rain sensor,        fog sensor,        park brake sensor;        the controller is configured to automatically select which lighting configurations can be implemented and to automatically determine in which order the selected lighting configurations are implemented depending also on vehicle localization data;        
Besides, a subject matter of the present invention is a lighting control method to implement, in an automotive vehicle, external running lights in different available lighting configurations. Precisely, the lighting control method is performed in an automotive vehicle that comprises:                a controller to control and implement lighting configurations,        an input device that can be manually actuated,        at least one sensor connected to the controller and able to detect at least one environment parameter.        
Said lighting control method comprises the steps of:                detecting at least one environment parameter,        selecting among the different available lighting configurations and depending on the environment parameter, which lighting configurations can be implemented,        depending on the environment parameter, defining in which order the selected lighting configurations are implemented when the input device is manually actuated,        detecting a manual actuation on the input device,        depending on the motion of the input device or a motion on the input device, implementing at least one lighting configuration that is chosen among the selected lighting configurations according to the implementation order.        
In the present application and when the input device is for instance a manually operable control member movable in at least one direction, a motion of the input device results from a manual actuation on the input device. When the input device is for instance a touchpad or a control member covered partially or totally with a touch sensitive surface, a motion on the input device may be a finger motion on the touch sensitive surface.
To be more precise, it can be envisaged the following steps:                detecting at least one environment parameter,        selecting among the different available lighting configurations and depending on the environment parameter, which lighting configurations can be implemented,        depending on the environment parameter, assigning to each selected lighting configuration a lighting configuration rank to define in which order the selected lighting configurations are implemented when the control member is manually operated,        detecting a manual actuation on the control member,        depending on the motion of the control member, incrementing or decrementing an active lighting configuration rank by at least one rank in order to define a new active lighting configuration rank,        among the selected lighting configurations; implementing the at least one lighting configuration that has a rank which corresponds to the new active lighting configuration rank.        
In a preferred implementation of the inventive method and when the control member is movable bidirectionally, the motion of the control member in one direction allows the incrementation of the lighting configuration rank and the motion of the control member in the opposite direction allows the decrementation of the lighting configuration rank.
It can also be envisaged the following steps:                detecting a modification of the environment parameter,        determining if the modification of the environment parameter requests the selection of new lighting configurations among the different available lighting configurations,        selecting new lighting configurations among the different available lighting configurations and defining in which order the new selected lighting configurations are implemented.        
In an advantageous implementation of the method                the controller is able to activate an automatic mode where some selected lighting configurations can be automatically implemented,        
and the method further comprises the following steps:                determining among the selected lighting configurations which lighting configurations are authorized to be automatically modified by the controller and which lighting configurations are authorized to be automatically implemented by the controller,        determining if the controller is authorized to automatically modify the current lighting configuration,        depending on at least one environment parameter, determining, among the lighting configurations authorized for automatic implementation, the at least one that is suitable,        without a manual actuation on the control member, automatically implementing the at least one lighting configuration that is suitable and authorized for automatic implementation.        
In a preferred aspect of the inventive method, the lighting configurations that the controller is authorized to automatically modify and/or implement are different from one selection of lighting configurations to another selection.
In another implementation of the method when the input device is for instance a touchpad or a control member covered partially or totally with a touch sensitive surface, the method comprises the following steps:                detecting at least one environment parameter,        selecting among the different available lighting configurations and depending on said parameter, which lighting configurations can be implemented,        depending on said parameter, assigning to each selected lighting configuration a lighting configuration rank to define in which order the selected lighting configurations are implemented when the touchpad or the touch sensitive surface receives a manual actuation,        detecting a manual actuation on the touchpad or on the touch sensitive surface,        depending on a motion on the touchpad or on the touch sensitive surface of the control member, incrementing or decrementing an active lighting configuration rank by at least one rank in order to define a new active lighting configuration rank,        among the selected lighting configurations; implementing the at least one lighting configuration that has a rank which corresponds to the new active lighting configuration rank.        
In another preferred aspect, the different steps of the inventive method are performed in an automatic manner by the lighting control system according to the invention.